Having your music video banned by MTV was almost like a badge of honor back in the network’s heyday. Megadeth (“In My Darkest Hour,” “A Tout le Monde”), Sepultura (“Arise”), Twisted Sister (“Be Chrool to Your Scuel”), Nine Inch Nails (“Closer”), Tool (“Prison Sex”) and Danzig (“Mother”) are among several hard rock/metal artists to have had videos banned and/or heavily censored for airplay.
Thrash-metal legends Anthrax also made the banned list. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, guitarist Scott Ian talked about the video that MTV refused to play: “Madhouse.” The video depicted people in straitjackets moshing in an abandoned mental hospital, and the network felt the band was being demeaning to the mentally ill.
“It was submitted to MTV, which was a bit of a long shot anyway for a band named ‘Anthrax’ and playing the music we played,” Ian said. “And MTV came back to us and very politely said, ‘We will never air this. You are banned from MTV, because we feel that you are making fun of the mentally impaired. We were like, ‘What?!’”
Ian said the band actually celebrated the ban. “We were like, ‘F*ck MTV anyway! Who needs this sh*t?” Ian continued. “This was before ‘Headbangers Ball’ became a thing in the 80s. We were very excited about it. I think the label put out a press release saying we were officially banned from MTV. Of course, that gets people excited.”
Check out Ian’s full video interview below.
